WALKER, Calif.: before 3 p.m.

Monday, June 17, 2002 | 11:24 a.m.

Terri Russell, a reporter for KOLO-TV in Reno who witnessed the crash, said one of the plane's wings was on fire before it started to lose altitude and then crashed into the wildfire.

Fire officials say they have grounded two remaining air tankers and the eight helicopters that were fighting the 6,500-acre fire near the Nevada-California line about 90 miles south of Reno.

About 400 people had been evacuated from Walker, which was threatened the wildfire that was still burning out of control in the mountains Monday.

The fire broke out Saturday near the Sierra resort town in a remote section of the Humbolt-Toiyabe National Forest that U.S. Marines use for survival training. Unexploded ordnance in the rugged area was slowing containment efforts, according to officials for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

The agency said the fire was "human" caused but had no other details. The fire was estimated to be only 7 percent contained at midday Monday as 600 firefighters from as far away as Reno fought the blaze. Full containment was projected Thursday night.

Fire officials initially reported two residences had been destroyed in the fire, but revised that Monday to say the fire has destroyed one home, a two-car garage, one travel trailer and two outbuildings in the Walker area.

U.S. Highway 395 remained closed after the fire burned within 100 feet of the road late Sunday night, said Jim Reinhardt, of the Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center.

Mono County sheriff's Sgt. Boe Turner said the fire was moving north and also threatening homes in Coleville, where at least three homes were evacuated.

The fire threatened the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness Area and Little Antelope Valley State Wildlife Refuge. It had burned within a couple of miles of both.

The refuge provides critical habitat for mule deer and other animals, while the wilderness is popular with backpackers and horse parties.